Bracket



March 6, 1934. J KINNEY 1,950,250

BRACKET Filed June 9, 1932 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR $5 M NKz'v ATTORNEY J. N. KINNEY March 6, 1934.

BRACKET Filed June 9, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 IH HIHHHH Patented Mar. 6, 1934 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 1 Claims.

The present invention relates to improvements in brackets and more especially to those of the class adapted to receive and hold an ordinary or standard electric lamp socket and to support it upon a wall or other object without requiring any wiring other than an ordinary extension cord and plug for attaching to the usual fioor or wall outlet.

One of the primary objects of the present invention is to provide a novel and improved portable bracket capable of being readily mounted in any desired or convenient position and location on a wall or other support or moved from one place to another as desired without requiring special fastening means and having a holder to readily and removably receive and securely hold articles of different kinds and more especially to receive an electric lamp socket of the usual or ordinary type so as to hold it firmly, yet in a conveniently removable manner, in a position to permit the convenient use of any ordinary or suitable lamp shade, the bracket also preferably having means for guiding the current conducting cord of the lamp inconspicuously and safely to any suitable electric current connection so that it will not become entangled with other objects.

Another object is to provide a one-piece bracket of this kind which can be manufactured inexpensively and with facility from a thin strip of commercially available stock metal or other material by shearing, punching and bending the same into shape, and which, in its preferred construction, may be produced from a continuous strip of such material substantially without any waste thereof.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent during the course of the following detailed description when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings which form a part of this specification and in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of an electric lamp bracket embodying the invention mounted upon a wall or other support;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view' taken on the line 2--2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a top plan view ofthe improved bracket;

50 Fig. 4 is an enlarged perspective view of the lower end of the supporting leg of the bracket showing a picture wire attached thereto;

Fig. 4a is an enlarged bottom plan of the lower end of the supporting leg of the bracket;

Fig. 5 is a plan view illustrating the manner in which the brackets may be cut or punched from a continuous strip of metal;

Fig. 6 is an enlarged view in side elevation of the socket holding portion of the bracket;

Fig. '7 is a plan view of said portion;

Fig. 8 is a hypothetical view of portions of an embossed bracket to show suitable cross sectional forms of the bracket arm and socket holding members; and

Fig. 9 is a hypothetical edge view of the portions of the bracket shown suppositionally in Fig. 8.

The invention is shown in the present instance as applied to an electric lamp bracket, it comprising a leg or support-engaging portion 10, an

arm or trunk portion 11, and a socket holding or jaw portion 12. The entire bracket is preferably cut in one piece from a strip of spring metal and then stamped andformed into the shape shown.

The leg portion 10 is provided with a pair of vertically spaced keyhole slots 13 for the passage of headed screws or other fastening elements 14 which serve to secure the bracket to a wallor other supporting structure 15. The upper ends of these keyhole slots are preferably of triangular or tapered form as shown so that they will ac commodate screws or other fastening elements of different diameters and secure the bracket in a stable manner and without an objectionable degree of side play. As will be observed from an inspection of Fig. 2, all that is necessary, when the bracket is to be moved, is to raise it vertically a slight distance to dispose the heads of the screws 14 in line with the enlarged portions of the respective slots 13 so that they will pass therethrough, whereupon the bracket may be removed outwardly and shifted to any other desired location.

A slot or hole 10 is also preferably provided in the leg 10 intermediately of its height to receive a nail or brad where it would be desirable when the bracket is to be fastened to the edge of a shelf, moulding or the like, or to a surface too narrow or irregular for fastenings that could fit both of the keyhole slots. If desired, the tongue of metal which is punched or out from the leg to form one of the keyhole slots, such as the upper one, need not be completely severed from the leg but may remain attached thereto and be formed into a conducting cord-engaging hook 16, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the head of the upper fastening screw being sufficiently close to the lip of the hook to prevent accidental disengagement of the lamp cord therefrom. The lower end of the leg portion 19 is preferably tapered to a point and is turned up to form a hook 16 for holding the light cord, as clearly shown in Fig. 1.

The lower hook 16 may also incidentally or independently serve as a strong and reliable picture hook on which a comparatively heavy picture or mirror, or similar article, may be suspended on an ordinary picture wire or the like, with ample safety, and when a picture is thus suspended from the bracket, it will be agreeably and effectively illuminated from the lamp supported by the bracket. For this purpose, the lower portion of the hook 16 is provided with a narrowed portion which is formed by symmetrical indentations 16 which are preferably formed inthe contour of the blank before bending. The center of the narrowed portion thus formed is preferably slightly nearer to the plane of the leg 10 than is the center of the bight of the hook, so that when the bight of a picture wire X is en.- gaged with the narrowed portion of the hook, the indentations forming the narrowed portion will prevent slipping of the picture wire beyond the bight of the hook and will thereby prevent straightening out of the hook and dropping of the picture wire if the hook is caused to yield by im posing an overload thereon. The indentations 16 are not so great but what the resistance in unbending the hook 16 at any portion between its bight at 16 and its junction with leg 10 at 16, to a vertical force applied between said bight and said junction, is as great as, or greater than, at said junction 16; therefore, the hook is not weakened by the indentations l6 but derives advantage therefrom.

The arm 11 of the bracket extends approximately horizontally from the upper end of the leg 10 and may be curved or bent upwardly in the center, as shown in the side elevations, or, if desired, the arm may extend upwardly at an angle from the leg as shown at 18 in dotted lines in Fig. 1 so as to raise the socket and the bulb carried therein above the upper terminus of the leg 10 to permit the mounting of an ordinary shade on a small bulb in the socket without striking of the lower edge of the shade on the arm 11.

- The arm 11 of the bracket terminates at its upper or outer end in a bifurcated. portion composed of a pair of substantially yoke or U-shaped spring fingers 19 which constitute lamp-socket gripping members and form the jaw portion 12 of the bracket. The fingers 19 which are connected to the arm 11 are preferably bent relatively to said arm so that the jaw portion 12 formed by these fingers will be open and will substantially axially receive the base or lower end of an ordinary standard type substantially cylindrical lamp socket 17 and clamp it therein at its sides and thus hold it in an upright vertical position, as illustrated in Figs. 1 and 3, so that a lamp shade may be conveniently mounted upon a light bulb carried in the socket without interference therewith by the arm 11.

As will be seen more clearly in Figs. 3, '7 and 8, the inner opposed edges of the spring fingers 19,

constituting the jaw portion 12, are formed substantially midway of their lengths with complemental arcuate bearing portions 29 which may terminate, toward the free ends of said fingers, in a pair of inwardly projecting opposed detents 21. This arcuate formation of the inner edges of the spring fingers, as shown in 3, provides a seat for the usual neck 22 on the base of the lamp socket 17 which, when sprung into position past the opposed detents 21, will be firmly held thereby between the jaws and the arcuate portions 20 with, and extending toward the bight portion of the U-shaped fingers into positions to engage the upper edge of the flange 24, commonly found on the standard two-part sockets now in general use, on the side of the socket opposite to the free ends of the fingers 19. It will thus be seen that the lamp socket 17 will be firmly held in position by the prongs 23' and the spring fingers 19 the free ends of which are yieldable and press the socket toward and hold it in engagement with said prongs so that the socket will not be likely to become accidentally dislodged from vertical position. The lamp socket may be more securely held or locked in upright position in the bracket by forming inwardly directed prongs 25 on the free ends of the respective spring fingers 19 in positions to engage the upper edge of the flange 24 of the socket at the side thereof opposite to that engaged by the prongs 23' so that both sides of the socket will be locked.

In manufacture, the improved brackets are preferably formed from blanks cut or stamped from a continuous strip of spring brass or other suitable resilient metal or material of appropriate thickness substantially as shown in Fig. 5, and from which it will be seen that the outer edge contours of the legs are complementary to or counterparts of the inner edge contours of the fingers 19 forming the jaw portions 12. This complementary formation permits the utilization of the cut out metal from the jaw portion of one bracket blank as the leg of the next adjacent bracket blank to be formed, thus avoiding waste of the strip. and simplifying and facilitating the cutting or punching operation.

The blanks, after they have been cut from the strip or while being cut, may be bent crosswise by dies shaped to emboss cross sections substantially as shown in Fig. 8 to provide the appropriate degree and gradation of stiffness. Obviously, such embossing may be omitted if the material of which the bracket is to be formed does not require it, in which case dies which will bend the blank in only one plane will be sufhcient to give the finished form to the bracket.

An easy manner of inserting a lamp socket of standard design into the jaw portion 12 of the bracket is indicated by the dotted lines in Fig. 1. Aswill be seen, the prongs 23 are engaged V against the upper edge of the socket flange 24 while the socket is inserted substantially endwise in the tilted dotted line position shown, and the socket is then pivoted or swung toward upright position about these prongs as a fulcrum thereby lowering the lower end of the socket and swinging its upper end into the upright or full line position. As this is done, the fingers 19 will be spread slightly apart by the cam action of the curved portions of the socket engaging their free ends, to permit or facilitate the passage of the neck 22 of the socket between them, but when the socket reaches the vertical or full line position as shown, the fingers 19 will have sprung back toward one another and will have received the neck 22 of the socket Within the arcuate bearing too portions 20, and the prongs 25 will have finally engaged on or over the flange 24 on the socket at the side thereof opposite to the prongs 23, the socket being thus held securely in upright position by the prongs 23 and 25 while the base or lower end of the socket rests on and is supported by the intermediate portions of the underlying yoke-shaped spring fingers 19.

Removal of the lamp socket from the bracket, when such is desired, may be accomplished quickly and easily by disengaging the prongs 25 from the flange 24 of the socket and by tilting the socket from the full line to the dotted line position shown in Fig. 1, the initial part of such tilting movement acting to spread apart the clamping fingers 19 sufficiently to permit the neck 22 of the socket to pass between them and the latter portion of such tilting movement, which takes place about the prongs 23 as fulcrums, freeing the socket of the clamping action of the fingers 19 so that the socket may then be lifted and thus removed from the bracket. During insertion and removal of the lamp socket, the current conducting cord 26 thereof will pass freely into or out of the space or gap formed between the fingers 19.

The hooks l6 and 16 serve as convenient means for supporting the extension lamp cord 26 and causing the same to lie substantially flat against the wall or other support upon which the bracket is mounted, where it is not likely to become entangled with other objects.

By forming the various parts of the bracket with various types of transverse bends as shown in Figs. 8 and 9 to provide the necessary stiffness, especially to the leg and arm portions, the bracket may be made from relatively thin or light material and yet will possess sufficient strength and stiffness to support for lighting purposes a lamp socket fitted with current cord, lamp bulb, and shade.

It will be evident from the foregoing description that the present invention provides a very simple and efficient one-piece bracket that may be formed as a unit from a single piece of sheet metal with a minimum number of forming operations and one which may be very economically manufactured by forming the leg of one bracket from what would ordinarily be the waste metal cut from between the jaws of another bracket.

While a preferred embodiment of the invention has been shown in the drawings by Way of example, it will be distinctly understood that varrious modifications in the details of construction I of the bracket may be resorted to Without departing from the spirit of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:-

1. An electric lamp bracket comprising a pair of U-shaped spring fingers to receive an end of a lamp socket and forming a seat for said end of the socket to support the latter, said fingers being spaced apart to form an opening to receive a neck on said end of the socket and forming clamping means to removably grip the socket 2. An electric lamp bracket comprising a leg for fastening the bracket to a support, an arm extending angularly from and connected at one end to said leg, and spring fingers forming continuations of the other end of said arm and bent to form an opening directed substantially parallel to the length of said leg to receive an end of a lamp socket and to form clamping means to removably grip the socket.

3. An electric lamp bracket comprising a leg for fastening the bracket to a support, an arm extending angularly from the leg, and a holder shaped to receive an end of a lamp socket, said holder being carried by said arm in offset position relatively to said leg and having an opening extending through a side of its socket receiving portion for the passage of the lamp cord for the lamp socket during the insertion of a lamp socket into and its removal from the holder.

4. A bracket comprising an attaching portion, U-shaped spring fingers each connected at one end to said attaching portion and extending therefrom, said fingers having their free ends opposite to and yieldable toward and from their points of connection to the attaching portion, and prongs on the bracket located opposite to and projecting toward the free ends of said fingers.

5. A bracket comprising an attaching portion, spring fingers connected thereto and extending therefrom, said fingers being yoke-shaped with their free ends opposite to their points of connection to the attaching portion, prongs projecting from the free ends of the fingers toward the points of connection of said fingers to the attaching portion, and cooperating prongs opposite to and projecting toward the first-mentioned prongs.

6. An electric lamp bracket comprising an at taching portion, and spring fingers connected thereto and extending therefrom, said fingers l being U-shaped to receive the base of an electric lamp socket and having seats at their proximate sides intermediately of their lengths and detents adjacent to said seats to receive and retain and permit withdrawal of the neck on the base of the socket.

7. A one-piece bracket of the character described adapted to be formed from. a continuous strip of sheet material, comprising an arm, a leg connected to one end thereof, and a bifurcated iaw portion connected to the other end of said arm, the leg having an external outline which s a counterpart of the internal outline of the iaw portion.

JOSEPH N. KINNEY.

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